Genius POS: Best POS for New Businesses

Why We Chose Genius POS for New Businesses

The best POS system for new businesses makes it easy for you to get up and running as quickly as possible. Global Payments delivers a user-friendly system right out of the box with Genius POS. In addition to making it easy to start taking transactions at check out, Genius provides tools to manage core back office operations, from managing inventory to scaling your email marketing efforts.

Genius POS isn’t just limited to new businesses; it’s also scalable, offering tools that support your business as it grows to multiple locations. As your new business matures, you won’t need to switch to another POS system, saving you time and money — after all, migrating POS systems is an arduous process that could disrupt your business. With Genius POS, you won’t have to worry about that. 

Ease of Use

Global Payments and Worldpay merged in 2026, giving Worldpay customers access to Genius’ user-friendly features. During our testing, each module’s dashboard featured a clean snapshot overview of important information. The uncluttered layout showed us exactly what we needed, whether that be an overview of sales transactions or overdue invoices. While Genius offers 24/7 customer support, it felt like a system we could explore on our own with minimal instruction. 

Genius POS Features 

Of Genius’ many available features, these were the ones that stood out most to us during our testing. 

Hardware

Genius provides three options for POS hardware: virtual, handheld and countertop terminals. You can mix and match these devices to create a custom POS system based on your business’s needs.

• Virtual terminal: The virtual kiosk terminal is available to all essential plan users. The virtual terminal allows you to accept transactions outside of a brick-and-mortar location by capturing a customer’s payment information over the phone or sending a payment link to customers via text or email.
• Handheld terminal: With the handheld terminal, your staff can easily take payments on the go, great for restaurants that want to close out guests right at their table.
• Countertop terminal: The countertop terminal is entirely staff facing and designed to make any task quick and efficient, whether that be completing a transaction or helping a customer make a return.

All three hardware options sync to your centralized sales data. So, if your staff completes a transaction using a handheld device in one location, you’ll be able to see it in the system on any other device from any other location in near real time.

Customization

Global Payments offers multiple customization choices, so you can tailor your set up to meet your business’s specific needs. For instance, it’s easy to set up custom discounts, so your team doesn’t have to worry about calculating anything at checkout. In testing, we were able to create common discounts in just a few clicks, such as veteran, birthday or employee discounts. 

You can also customize your checkout configuration, depending on what your customers need to see. Enable or disable tipping, allow customers to email or text receipts, and configure your POS to multiple printers. 

Inventory Management

Advanced plan customers also get access to Genius’ inventory management tools, allowing you to track stock in real time across multiple channels. Adding inventory to your Item Library is simple, along with product photos and pricing details, so the system can accurately track profit margins across categories, in addition to stock levels. 

If you’ve been tracking inventory via spreadsheet, you can easily upload your documents and the Genius system will convert your inventory. We appreciate that the platform offers extensive support when setting up their inventory management features. For those who need additional guidance, a representative can also assist you in getting your inventory tracking established with Genius. 

Data Analytics 

One of the best reasons to upgrade to the Advanced plan is access to Genius’ reporting and analytics tools. During testing, we were impressed by how detailed available sales data was when we wanted to view trends over time. We could compare sales, not just year over year, but also day by day, and even compare specific hours on the same date. This is especially helpful for retailers trying to schedule staff appropriately for busier periods. 

We also had the option to pull sales summaries to compare online and in-store sales. The Genius system even let us separate data based on sales made by specific employees, not just on certain dates or by location. Unlike many other POS systems, Genius makes it possible to track cash payments as well as credit and debit card transactions. We were fans of the calendar view format, in particular. If we wanted to see sales from a specific date, the calendar view made it easy to find quickly. 

These analytics are valuable beyond predicting sales volume. Global Payments customers can also use the analytics tools to improve their email marketing strategies. In testing, we saw that email addresses could be gathered through the Receipts function, and Genius’ analytics features could also extract demographic and behavioral information based on other credit card purchases. For instance, if your restaurant sees loyal customers are making credit card purchases at nearby bakeries after dining at your establishment, that’s a sign to consider adding more desserts to the menu. 

Genius’ analytics suite also includes a competitive benchmark feature, so you can see how you’re doing in comparison with similar businesses in your area. We appreciated how detailed the available competitive data was, similarly allowing us to see competitive sales within a specific week, month, or year. 

Time and attendance

Global Payments also offers Advanced plan customers time and attendance management tools through its Timeclock feature. This feature was easy to navigate in testing, with a summary of staff shifts, hours, breaks and wages available on the dashboard when logging in. After navigating to the Shifts function on the left sidebar menu, we could see a full roster of all staff, including who was on the clock, who was on break and total hours for every employee. 

Customer Loyalty Add-ons

For an additional cost, Global Payments will work with you to tailor a customer loyalty plan that drives repeat business. In addition to gift cards, you can offer loyalty programs where customers earn points based on how much they spend, visit your store, or if they purchase specific items. 

Genius POS Pricing 

Global Payments doesn’t disclose prices for Genius POS on their website, so you’ll need to contact them for a quote. When you speak to a Global Payments representative, they’ll assess your business’s specific needs before tailoring a bundled plan. 

The vendor does offer promotions so merchants can get started on the basic plan at a low rate. At the time of our testing, Global Payments was offering a promotion to get started with the Essentials plan for $0. Genius does require a three year contract and may charge an early termination fee. 

Genius POS Subscription Plans

Merchants can choose from Genius’ Essentials and Advanced plans. 

• Essentials: With the Essentials, you’ll have full access to most payment and compliance tools, including dual pricing and surcharging, as well as tax tracking and reporting. You won’t be able to create custom discounts, though, and your reporting functions will be limited.
  
• Advanced: For the full back office SaaS experience, you’ll need to subscribe to the Advanced plan. Considering the level of functionality you gain, the higher tier may be your most cost effective option. The Advanced plan gives you access to all inventory management functions, as well as Timeclock, Genius’ time and attendance system. You’ll also have far more extensive hardware choices, including the option to use Genius cash drawers, barcode scanners, and printers, in addition to the virtual and handheld POS terminals.  

Gift card programs are available for an added cost to both Essentials and Advanced customers. Genius also offers industry-specific add-ons for Advanced plan subscribers, including delivery, booking services and support for products requiring age regulations. 

You also won’t need to purchase a warranty to guarantee your hardware is covered. If the unexpected happens, Genius will replace it. 

Implementation and Onboarding

One of the greatest advantages of subscribing to Genius POS is how fast you can be online with their system. Genius has reported clients completing their initial implementation in a matter of days. Since both their hardware and software are designed to be intuitive and simple, the low learning curve is a huge plus for small teams. 

Customer Service

Retail merchants don’t always operate from 9:00 to 5:00, so we appreciate that Global Payments offers 24/7 customer support. Whether you have a simple question about your POS terminal or a more complex infrastructure need, Genius POS claims to be available for any level of need, any time. Given Genius’ positive ratings, with high scores for customer service on platforms like Capterra and Software Advice, there’s solid evidence that quality customer support is a priority. We were also happy to see that Genius’ customer resources include support in multiple languages. 

Limitations

When you use Genius POS, you’ll be required to process payments via Worldpay. We preferred to see flexibility in choice of payment processors when we reviewed POS systems. However, Worldpay is one of our picks for best credit card processors, so even though it’s required you can expect quality service. 

Additionally, Genius POS may not be the right solution for all food and beverage businesses. The platform works well for takeout and concession stands, but dining establishments that need access to advanced features like table mapping won’t get that through Genius.

Methodology

Our team determined the best POS systems through a range of exclusive product demos, testing through free trials and direct contact with each vendor’s support team. We also researched broader user experience by reading public customer reviews on multiple websites. For our retail best picks, we focused on features that meet the needs of retail operations, including payment processing, inventory tracking, employee management tools and the ability to create loyalty programs. We also took into account whether a vendor supported multiple payment methods, including in-store and online transactions. 

Bottom Line

We recommend Genius POS for:

• New businesses.
• Businesses that need an intuitive POS system with a low learning curve.
• Businesses that need access to back office operational features. 

We don’t recommend Genius POS for:

• Restaurants with complex operational needs. 
• Businesses that want upfront pricing.
• Organizations that don’t want long-term contracts.